Federal Agents Get Warrant to Hack Suspected Cartel Phone

Federal Agents Get Warrant to Hack Suspected Cartel Phone

MCALLEN, Texas — A search warrant filed in federal court shows how federal agents are trying to get more information on the drug trafficking activities of drug traffickers in South Texas.

Agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 41-year-old Miguel Diaz Jr. late last month on a probation violation charge. While interviewing him Diaz told authorities in veiled terms that he had good connections and had various criminal activities going on, according to court records obtained by Breitbart Texas.  

Diaz asked the agents to keep him out of jail in exchange for information, and showed them a text message on a flip phone that dealt with him meeting someone’s boss to pick-up cash and then transport something illegal, documents show. 

The agents told him that they could not make any promises about keeping him out of jail. Soon after, Diaz pulled out a second phone, a Samsung S3 smartphone that the agents were trying to get a warrant to access the information. The photos that Diaz showed the agents had him holding an assault rifle and another of him holding a marijuana bundle. 

After Diaz was taken to jail the U.S Marshals Service took custody of the phone which the HSI agents asked for a warrant to search. Earlier this week U.S. Magistrate Judge, Ignacio Torteya, granted the search warrant giving agents permission to get the information they needed from the phone.  Court proceedings are underway to revoke Diaz’s probation and have him sent back to prison. 

Diaz had initially been arrested in 2007 by Harlingen Police, who responded to what appeared to be a drug transaction and ended up finding a .40 caliber handgun, latex gloves, and ammunition in the man’s vehicle, according to court records obtained by Breitbart Texas. When police asked him why he had a gun, Diaz responded it was for protection, but since he had various prior state convictions for burglary and forgery, he was not able to legally own a handguns. In 2008 he pleaded guilty to the charge and received 30 month prison sentence followed by a probation term which court records show he violated by testing positive for cocaine and missing his check-ins. 

Follow Ildefonso Ortiz on Twitter: @ildefonsoortiz 

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.